The purpose of this study was to determine the improvement in nutritional status, especially in the level of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and its relationship with changes in the circulating cytokine levels, after providing extra protein and energy contents to community-dwelling older adults at risk of undernutrition.

Sixty of aged over 65 years, living independently in the community for elderly people, nondiabetic subjects with serum prealbumin of under 30 mg/dL and BMI under 25 kg/m2 were recruited. The subjects were followed for a 2-week pre-intervention period, followed by an intervention period, which they received 2 cartons of liquid oral nutritional supplementation daily for 2 weeks.

Inclusion Criteria:

• voluntarily agree to participate and sign in informed consent form
• aged 65 years or older
• a serum prealbumin level≤30 mg/dL and a BMI<25 kg/m2

Exclusion Criteria:

• inability to perform oral ingestion
• known allergies to milk or eggs
• an inability to communicate, such as those with Alzheimer's disease
• malabsorption syndrome, a history of gastrectomy or enterectomy
• diabetes, liver disease, renal disease, neurological disease, pancreatitis, malignancy, cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease, metabolic syndrome
• any other disease requiring treatment, medication or alcohol abuse
• any condition that the investigator believes may put the subjects at under risk